Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Buckwheat Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the starter
Combine 1 qt. warm water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cake yeast foam dissolved in warm water, and buckwheat flour enough to make a stiff batter.
When ready to bake, pour out some of the stiff batter and set it in a cool place to start batter for the next morning.
Bake
Thin the remaining batter with sour milk to the right consistency and add 1 teaspoon soda.
Bake on a hot griddle.
Keep the starter
Pour cold water over the leftover batter from the previous morning to keep it sweet, and use it for raising the next morning's cakes.
Fill the 'essel entirely full of water and put it in a cool place; when ready to use, pour off the water, which absorbs the acidity.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Buckwheat flour (in the method)
- Forms the batter and gives the cakes their distinctive earthy flavor and dark color.
- Yeast foam
- Ferments the batter, producing gas that lightens the cakes and builds flavor.
- Sour milk (in the method)
- Thins the batter and adds acidity that reacts with the soda.
- Soda
- Reacts with the sour milk's acidity to produce gas, helping the cakes rise.
The step that matters
Keeping the leftover batter sweet. The reserved starter ferments and turns sour over time. Covering it with cold water slows fermentation, and pouring off the water removes some of the acidity before the batter is used to raise the next cakes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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